


The Echo of a Century

by viiemzee



Category: Carmilla (Web Series)
Genre: F/F, sort of character death
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-18
Updated: 2015-06-18
Packaged: 2018-04-04 23:20:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,946
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4156782
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/viiemzee/pseuds/viiemzee
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"What's the worst thing that could ever happen to you?"<br/>"To live forever is a terrible thing."</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Echo of a Century

_She remembers the conversation happening, even if it was a good century and a half ago by now. It was one of the only times that Matska graced them with her ever-wonderful presence, a wonderful occasion for all involved. Or so Maman told them, anyway. She liked to believe that it was only Maman who actually enjoyed her company._

_Matska wasn’t very likeable even when Carmilla was in the best of moods. Which, since Ell had been taken away, wasn’t very often, really._

_But sometimes, on nights like these, she wasn’t absolutely terrible company._

_William was off with Mother somewhere, learning everything that there was to learn about being recently undead. The poor boy had only been Sired a few months before, and the transition had been anything but easy for him. Which meant that Carmilla got a lot of time to herself. Sixty years underground meant that now, whenever there was peace and quiet and the lack of planning of anything sinister, or even a day without the mention of the Lophi...thing...she could at least content herself staring at the stars she had been deprived of for so long._

_“Sister.”_

_This was the unpleasant part of her nights with the whole family here._

_“Mattie.”_

_“You know I despise that name,” she retaliated smoothly, not even blinking (she probably killed in the same way - but that was something Carmilla never cared to find out). “What are you doing up here?”_

_“Take a wild guess.”_

_For once, her older sister simply said nothing, sitting down a respectable distance away and staring up at the sky with her, the sounds of the night surrounding them both._

_“I never understood your fascination with the stars.”_

_“Clearly you’ve spent a lot of time above ground.”_

_“Very funny.”_

_She smirked, looking over at Matska for the first time and baring her fangs, a clear invitation to retaliation if she so wished. “I have my moments.”_

_But Matska didn’t even look at her. She continued to stare up, her eyes trained on one constellation in particular - Gemini. She stared for what felt like centuries (although, who was an immortal to talk about the passage of time like that?) before uttering a simple question._

_“What’s the worst thing that could ever happen, do you think?”_

_“Well, that’s easy.”_

_The words were out of her mouth before she even had the chance to properly think, to actually formulate her sentence._

_“To live forever is a terrible thing.”_

* * *

“Sister; you haven’t aged a day.” (Why did she have to greet her this way every time?)

“Mattie.”

“Always with the nicknames,” she growled at her, all pretences lost. “I’ve had enough of you and your group of puny little humans interfering where you don’t belong.”

“What can I say, we’re a regular old Mystery Inc.”

Confusion crossed Matska’s face, and she momentarily blanked before regaining her composure and straightening her back, her shoulders thrown back. “Enough talk. We have had enough of you. The Board-”

“The Board can suck my dick,” Carmilla whispered, slapping herself mentally. Maybe not the best response to a vampire two centuries older than you who thought anything human was ridiculous.

“You see, I would have hoped we could have saved you, Sister. Brought you back to us. You could have actually done something with yourself instead of stayed as simple bait for Lophiiformes. But no, you were always like Will - content doing the small work, never interested in furthering yourself.”

“What do you want, Mattie?”

A silence fell between them, a silence echoed over a century and a half, before her Sister walked slowly over to the cup of blood Carmilla had been drinking from, dipping her finger in (so much like Maman it was...scary…) and licking the blood off the pad of her forefinger before shrugging one shoulder and brushing past her little sister.

“Remember what the worst thing in the world is, my dear.”

* * *

“You said...what?”

“Laura, just hear me out on this.”

There was a certain beauty to Laura’s anger, and even now Carmilla could see it, but it terrified her that this tiny human who was barely able to reach the third shelf in their new home was suddenly squaring her jaw, crossing her arms and looking like she had no second thoughts about banishing Carmilla from the house with a crucifix and a handful of garlic.

“I had said that, yes, but that was...almost two hundred years ago. Before your great-grandparents were even born. You have to give me credit for this, it’s not like I meant it against you.”

“You said living forever is the worst thing.”

“Yes, but-”

“So that means that knowing me is part of your worst thing.”

_Ah, shit._

“Laura, no.”

“You wish you had died in 1698? Is that it? Do you wish your Mother had never saved you and that you would have just died on your eighteenth  birthday?!”

“Laura!”

“Answer me, Carm.”

Rubbing a hand to her temple, the vampire fought the urge to turn into a cat and slink under the stairs where she couldn’t be found, and wait until the anger had subsided. But she didn’t. She couldn’t. She owed it to Laura. She told herself that over and over as she took a step back, and then another, setting herself down on the carpet and crossing her legs.

“Laura, listen. It is the worst thing in the world. Immortality...it takes a toll on anyone. You see someone live forever like I have with Mother, you’d understand where I get this from. But...I don’t wish I had never met you. I just…”

She sighed, looking down at the carpet, the blood stains from Perry’s entrance a few weeks before still visible, mostly faded.

_God I’m thirsty._

“I just wouldn’t wish it on anyone, that’s all.”

When she looked up, she wasn’t sure if she saw Laura’s eyes lose a bit of their glow.

Maybe.

* * *

It wasn’t so long after that that things got worse. Students started dying again, the Zetas and Summer Society didn’t help much, and Matska was...well...she was there. She was there and Carmilla was positive that she was orchestrating this whole thing. And if centuries of playing a dangerous game by her sister’s side had taught her anything, it was that Matska would eventually get to who she wanted, someway or another.

What she didn’t expect was to walk in that night to find what she did.

All it took was the slight tinge of iron to set her off. She was tearing through the halls the minute she smelt it, fighting back to the urge to release her fangs and clamp down on the flesh bleeding out, wherever it was.

She sprung through the curtains and into the bathroom, and almost howled when she saw her.

Laura. Laura in the hot tub. Laura with her hair plastered to her forehead with sweat, with her eyes half-closed, her mouth gaping open. Laura with blood gushing from an open wood somewhere between her chest and hips.

And Matska, just sitting there, on a chair a few meters off, watching Carmilla suffer.

“Why?” she whispered out, barely able to think in any language. She heard Matska chuckle, almost from under the water in the tub, and turned her head slowly.

“You think immortality is the worst thing, don’t you, Carmilla? But I’ve heard - I’ve seen - how you talk to this one. You tell her you love her, she tells you she couldn’t live without you. You tell each other all these sweet little things. Human things. Do they mean anything, really?”

“Matt...Matska, please.”

“Choose, Carmilla. The love of your life, supposedly, in a life you would never wish on anyone. Or never seeing her again.”

She made no move to actually leave after that revelation, sitting right where she was, her eyes trained on the younger vampire, who was projecting her screams into the daggers she sent her way. She was trying so hard not to even look at the blood, but the smell was enticing, too powerful for her to ignore it. She looked over, the water turning too red for it to be normal, for it to be good for Laura. That wound wasn’t superficial, it wasn’t fake, and it wasn’t going to go away no matter how much she pretended that it didn’t exist.

“Carm…”

“Shit, you’re alive.” She sprang into the water and grabbed Laura’s head, brushing away locks of hair from her eyes and stroking her cheeks gently. “Hey, hey, I’m here, I’m right here. It’s gonna be OK.”

“Carm...I can’t...I ca...bre…”

“I know, I know, I’m sorry I’m so so sorry.”

“Ca…”

“This is my fault.”

“Carm, help me.”

Those words shook her, shook her body and made her head hurt and made her feel weak. It was hard enough to concentrate right now, but those words made every ounce of her resolve fly straight out the window.

“You know the rules, Sister,” she heard, that voice still so far away. “Turn the victim of a murder before the first hour passes, or they are beyond saving. It’s what happened to us.”

“You can rot in hell,” she growled, never taking her eyes off Laura, frantically searching for another way, any other way, to save her.

“Trust me, I’m already there.”

There was a small sound, like a gust of wind passing through the house, and without looking Carmilla knew that Matska had gone. One of her hands was clutching at Laura’s shirt, tearing it away from the wound, staring at the blood that wouldn’t stop oozing out. She choked back tears, pressed her forehead to Laura’s, and made her decision.

“Laura, I am so sorry.”

“Car…”

“I’m so sorry.”

“Carm…”

“Yeah?”

“Thanks.”

“For what?” _You shouldn’t even be speaking right now, cupcake._

“For...givin...me...these las...few...mon’s…”

“Yeah?”

“Was...hap…”

_I was happy too._

_Fuck._

“I love you.”

* * *

“So...this is how it’s gonna be now, huh?”

“Yup,” Perry sighed, leaning against her best friend’s shoulder and ‘hmph’-ing slightly. “I have to admit, one vampire is enough.”

Sitting on the recliner, her hands around a mug, Carmilla was laughing as Laura was gingerly putting her own to her mouth, gagging every few sips.

“It’s not so bad.”

“This blood tastes terrible. Where’d you even get it?”

“I dunno. Probably some Zeta who just drank and ate junk food all the time? I found it at the school infirmary, blood bank thing.”

“Yeah, makes sense. Does all blood taste this terrible?”

“Nah.”

Laura’s adjustment was taking a while. Only two days ago she had been mortal, but now, with immortality came perks. Amongst them, heightened senses and more-than-was-necessary strength (especially when it came to a five-two Krav Maga master). But she was learning to adjust, and Carmilla was proud. At least she wasn’t being overly difficult.

“So, a life together, huh?”

“Well, vampires aren’t known to be the most solitary creatures, are they?”

“Stop joking, I’m being serious,” Laura laughed, playfully shoving Carmilla, who grabbed her hand and brought it up to her lips, kissing the palm gently.

“That’s the plan, my dear.”

In her head, a small voice said _This is how it starts. You’ll be Siring more and more before you know it._

But she squashed it down, that voice that sounded like a combination of her sister and Mother, and just gazed into her girlfriend’s brand new eyes - darker than before, much more alert, open to new colours and new detail.

In her head, a larger voice said _At least now it isn’t that bad._

She could deal with this immortality.

 

 


End file.
